The federal government is celebrating the Greens’ decision to “sever’’ their power-­sharing agreement, saying it frees Labor from the bogey of being associated with the minor party while having no impact on its hold on power.

There was some concern at the ­timing of the announcement – coming as the government undergoes ­leadership turmoil – but Labor felt it would bolster its pre-election push for the blue-collar vote, launched this week by Prime Minister Julia Gillard with a manufacturing policy.

Ms Gillard and her senior ministers used the defection to claim vindication that Labor was the party that put jobs first while the manager of government business, Anthony Albanese, who has led negotiations with the Greens for the past two years, slammed them as “parasites".

Mr Albanese, whose inner-Sydney seat of Grayndler has a large Greens vote, said the Greens waited for Labor to win the progressive vote with tough decisions such as the carbon price and then tried to pick off those voters.

“They don’t take the battle to the conservatives,’’ he said. “They concentrate on winning Labor votes in Labor-held seats."

In a direct pitch for the progressive vote, Greens leader Christine Milne declared on Tuesday that the minority government deal signed between her predecessor Bob Brown and Ms Gillard in 2010 was dead because Labor was beholden to the mining industry and irresponsible towards the ­environment.

Tarkine wilderness cited

She cited the government’s refusal to redesign its “dud" mining tax, which the Greens voted for in Parliament, its support of coal seam gas and its refusal to protect the Tarkine wilderness in Tasmania from logging.

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But she said the Greens would continue to guarantee the government supply and confidence until the September 14 election, meaning there would be no impact on the government’s slender hold on power.

Senior ministers said nothing would change fundamentally because the Greens already guaranteed supply and confidence and every other vote was negotiated on a case-by-case basis. “I don’t think you’ll see this decision of the Greens today, practically, gave a great impact on the ­operation of the Parliament,’’ Treasurer Wayne Swan said.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said that given the Greens would continue to guarantee supply and confidence, “I don’t see any particular significance other than Senator Milne’s trying to do a little bit of product differentiation".

Senator Milne said she would continue to guarantee supply and confidence because she did not want to facilitate Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s path to power.

“By choosing the big miners, the Labor government is no longer ­honouring our agreement to work together,’’ she said.

Greens need to shore up vote

“Labor has effectively ended its agreement with the Greens. So be it. But we will not allow Labor’s failure to uphold the spirit of our agreement and to advance the interest of Tony Abbott.’’

The decision to distance the Greens from Labor, rhetorically at least, is motivated by the Greens needing to shore up their vote.

They have three senators up for re-election on September 14, as well as the Melbourne MP, Adam Bandt.

In South Australia, Senator Sarah Hanson-­Young is at grave risk of losing her spot and internal Coalition polling shows the Greens vote has slumped in that state.

Labor has suffered politically for the deal cut with Greens, most notably because it forced Ms Gillard to put a price on carbon.

Ms Gillard was unperturbed by the “split". “This is a matter for Christine Milne and the Greens," a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said.

“We will always be the party that puts jobs, growth and work first."

Labor lost much of the blue-collar vote over the carbon tax and, on Sunday, Ms Gillard launched a $1 billion policy aimed at helping local manufacturing.

PM says party is not progressive

She backed it in with a speech on Monday night to the Australian Workers’ Union annual conference on the Gold Coast, in which she pointedly said she did not lead a party that was progressive, moderate or socialist democratic.

“I’m the leader of the party called the Labor Party deliberately because that is what we come from,’’ she said.

One senior Labor source said “good riddance’’ to the Greens.

“We’re the party of jobs, not tree-huggers.’’

Opposition Senate leader Eric Abetz said the Greens were trying to distance themselves from the “toxic’’ Labor brand “but in reality, nothing has changed’’ because they would keep Labor in power until the election.

There was also concern at the spectre of the two left-wing parties going to war with each other and the decision worsening the general impression of chaos already plaguing the government.

Senator Milne underscored her rhetoric by flagging a Senate inquiry into the mining tax, which threatens to embarrass the government further.

Coalition shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann said the tax had already proven to be a dud but if the Greens wanted to provide a platform to expose this once more, the Coalition would support it.